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Is Wes Saunders the next Heath Miller

The coaches are really high on the undrafted rookie free agent. Saunders has been seeing action regularly in the Steelers offense this season, perhaps a sign of things to come.

The catch he made in the back of the endzone, tiptoeing to stay in bounds and keep control was a thing of beauty. Maybe you could say it was beginners luck but in Saunders case, he looks like he's going ot be th real deal.

Heath Miller signed a 6 yr. 35.3 million dollar contract in 2009 so he's not going anywhere anytime soon. However his cap number for 2011 was $5,469,333 which has been believed to be restructured, but still. We all know Heath has been money for the Steelers, but Saunders could be the eventual replacement for him.

I wanted him a lot around draft time, so I was very happy to see him join the Steelers as an UDFA. He can definitely block and he can definitely make some plays in the passing game as was demonstrated on Sunday. Hopefully, Arians will continue to use him and not take him out of the playbook for no apparent reason. I could see him being a good security blanket type of receiver for Ben in years to come.

With Miller and Saunders at TE, Wallace, Brown and Sanders at WR, this team has a lot of receiving threats for the future.

I think Saunders will establish his own identity. Being that the Steelers currently do not have explosive players with great size, Saunders could be that missing "big target" in the red zone that they so desparately need. The current offensive line does not block effectively to run the ball exclusively in the RZ as in years past, so the only other option is to pass the ball.

There is a reason why the Chargers, Pats and Saints have consistently been among the top offensive teams for a while now. They all have "SIZE". The Chargers have Gates, Jackson and Floyd; The Saints have Colston and Graham; The Pats have Gronkowski (they had Moss).

The Steelers have a gem in Saunders, so I am hoping that they take advantage of his size and skillset. He could be Plaxico's replacement if given the opportunity. He has size, good hands and respectable speed for a TE. Once his game becomes "polished", he'll be another receiving threat teams will have to worry about....especially down in the red zone.

hopefully 82 removes 85 from our roster quickly... i may be wrong but most of the time when 85 is on the field our plays deteriorate quickly.. maybe its me but he is always walking in circles after each play.. i dont know if hes looking for a flag or he cant figure where the guy he was blocking went.......

Saunders is not a replacement for David Johnson. Johnson is mainly a blocking TE and FB. Saunders is more in the Heath role than David is IMO. Johnson does a pretty good job overall, I don't think he looks lost when he's out there. He may not be the most consistent TE on the roster and certainly not the best but he's adequate in what he does. He was a big part of the offense early in the year with those quick passes for 1st downs. With the emergence of all the young WR's he has been somewhat forgotten here since the beginning, no doubt about it.

The Steelers are going to have to keep somebody on the roster that can act as a FB now and then for short yardage situations...unless they are planning on just sticking Legursky or Trai Essex back there all the time.